Arguments of custom commands as comma separated list?

Question

Consider the follwing command:

 \newcommand{\vektor}[3]{\left(\negthinspace\begin{smallmatrix}#1\\#2\\#3    \end{rsmallmatrix}
 \right)}

I can use it like

$\vektor{1}{2}{3}$

Now my question is whether it is possible to redefine the command such that the arguments are a comma separated list, such that I could write:

$\vektor{1,2,3}$

Have a look at http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/15716/3240 – Thorsten Jun 02 '11 at 14:07 — Thorsten, Jun 02 '11 at 14:07

score 9 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 02 '11 at 14:34

9

You can do it with \def and braces too, if you use two steps to hide Ian Thompson's code inside another macro.

\documentclass{minimal}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\def\vektor#1{\innervector(#1)}
\def\innervector(#1,#2,#3) {\left(\negthinspace\begin{smallmatrix}#1\\#2\\#3 \end{smallmatrix} \right)}
\begin{document}
\[ \vektor{a,b,c} \]
\end{document}

answered Jun 02 '11 at 14:34

Ryan Reich

37,958

very nice! – Ian Thompson Jun 02 '11 at 14:41
That's cheating! – Seamus Jun 02 '11 at 15:09

Danie Els · Answer 2 · 2011-06-02T16:01:07.630

As an after thought. You can make it a lot more general with a variable number of arguments and different row or column delimiters

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\makeatletter

\newcommand\myvector[2][\\]{%
    \global\def\my@delim{#1}%
    \left(\negthinspace\begin{smallmatrix}
        \my@vector #2,\relax\noexpand\@eolst%
    \end{smallmatrix}\right)}

\def\my@vector #1,#2\@eolst{%
   \ifx\relax#2\relax
      #1
   \else
      #1\my@delim
      \my@vector #2\@eolst%
   \fi}

\makeatother
\begin{document}
$x   = \myvector{1,2,3,:}$ and
$x^T = \myvector[,&]{1,2,3,...}$
\end{document}

This will give

enter image description here

... incidentally, this solution helps me a lot. Thanks! – Reinhard Neuwirth Aug 05 '15 at 04:53 — Reinhard Neuwirth, Aug 05 '15 at 04:53

Ian Thompson · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-02T20:56:39.247

6

It's easy to do this sort of thing using \def, if you don't mind putting the argument inside delimiters that are not braces.

\documentclass{minimal}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\def\vektor(#1,#2,#3) {\left(\negthinspace\begin{smallmatrix}#1\\#2\\#3 \end{smallmatrix} \right)}
\begin{document}
\[ \vektor(a,b,c) \]
\end{document}

Obviously, the above would go horribly wrong if you replace the parentheses with braces.

EDIT

See Ryan Reich's answer (or Aditya's comment) for a neat modification that allows you to use braces.

edited Jun 02 '11 at 20:56

answered Jun 02 '11 at 14:18

Ian Thompson

43,767

1

Actually, it is easy to go from this solution to one that uses braces. \def\vektorwrapper#1{\vektor(#1)}. – Aditya Jun 02 '11 at 15:39

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 02 '11 at 15:26

Here is a solution that uses the xparse package:

\usepackage{xparse}
\NewDocumentCommand{\InternalVector}{mmm}{%
  \left(\begin{smallmatrix}#1\\#2\\#3\end{smallmatrix}\right)%
}
\NewDocumentCommand{\vektor}{>{\SplitArgument{2}{,}}m}{\InternalVector#1}

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 02 '11 at 15:00

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{amsmath} % for smallmatrix

\begingroup\lccode`~=`,
  \lowercase{\endgroup\def\vekcomma{\mathcode`\,=\string"8000 \def~{\\}}}
\newcommand\vektor[1]{\left(\vekcomma
  \!\begin{smallmatrix}
  #1
  \end{smallmatrix}\!\right)}

\begin{document}
$a,b\vektor{a,b,c,d}\vektor{x,y,z}$
\end{document}

You are not limited to three components. The a,b part is to show that uses of the comma outside the argument of \vektor are allowed.

The fact that \left-\right make a group is fundamental, because this ensures that changes to the \mathcode of the comma are confined to that place. The special mathcode "8000 means that the comma behaves like an active character; the definition of the active comma is given in an indirect way, so as not to conflict with possible other meanings as an active character.

Arguments of custom commands as comma separated list?

5 Answers5

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